The Tall Man
by OhNoImAYoungAdult
Summary: He hides in the trees watching her. Waiting. Many have gone in hunting the Tall Man but very few come out. Those who do come out are off their rocker and get sent straight to the crazy house. He is her nightmare. Living in the woods. Waiting. The old woman told her someone was coming to help her, but can anyone really help?
1. Chapter 1

The Tall Man  
Prologue

The small diner stood out on the side of the quiet southern highway. It was a stopping point for those who were making their way between the small rural towns of Alabama and Georgia. While the outside seemed run down and almost ghost like, the inside was bursting with activity. Waitresses moved with a certain practiced grace between the crowded tables filled with mothers and fathers that scrambled to keep their children sitting still, old couples that smiled at each other from across their tables, and the occasional trucker who killed a few minutes before they had to make their way back to their eighteen wheeler all while carrying full trays of food and silverware with only one hand.

Out of all the customers there were two young men who stood out the most as they sat in the old worn booth in the corner of the diner. The eldest was spending the time stuffing his face full of eggs and sausages while the younger absent mindedly drank down a fruit smoothie while clicking away on his laptop.

The eldest looked up after scrapping the rest of his breakfast off his now empty plate and threw a wink at the elderly waitress who came by to pick it up, earning a small laugh from the woman. He turned his attention to his brother as soon as the woman had walked out of hearing range. "Got any new leads?"

The younger spared his brother a glance before putting his attention back on the computer screen. "Nothing substantial. Most of these small towns have their own scary stories about swap monsters, ghosts haunting former plantation houses, and cattle going missing in the middle of the night. Nothing that really stands out as, you know, _real_.I hate to say it, but we might be done here. For now anyway."

"Sammy," the eldest while leaning forward across the table and lowering his voice for only the man sitting in front of him to hear. "We just took out a whole vampire nest back in Louisiana and, I'll admit, this small-town-apple-pie-in-every-diner-thing is really starting to grow on me. There has _got_ to be something sinister hiding out in the woods that will keep us from heading back out west for a couple more days."

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's apple pie remark. "Dean, there is nothing here. But I did find something going down up north that may be a possible lead."

Before Sam could continue, a young girl came bursting through the door, the little bell attached to it frantically dinging as a result. Her waitressing apron snagged on one of the tables as she bounced between the rows and finally came to a stop at the front counter where two of the younger waitresses were watching her and only a few feet away from where the brothers sat.

"Did ya hear?" she wheezed out between breaths. "Remember Annie's Brother, Jimmy? The one who got accepted to UGA last year?" This caught the attention of the two other women as they leaned over the counter, ready to sink their teeth into the new piece of gossip. Gossiping was a fan favorite in small rural towns such as the one that the diner sat on the edge of.

"Last week he called and told his mamaw that he was goin' off to do some research for some paper, but instead him and his friends went out to Ashland and no one's seen them since." Both of the waitresses dramatically gasped at what the woman had told them and twittered their disbelief until the speaker continued with her story. "His roommate told the cops that they was goin' out to hunt for the Tall Man."

Right as the words left her mouth an older waitress walked by and, hearing the conversation, popped the young woman in the back of the head with her order pad.

"Hush child, we don' need talk 'bout such things in this diner, invitin' all them evil spirits in. Once they in they don' leave. Now hush up and get back ta work." The young women had the decency to look ashamed before they split apart to go check on their tables.

Both Sam and Dean, after overhearing the conversation, looked at each other.

"That seems like a good enough lead." Dean smirked across the table at Sam. A second later the young waitress that had come bustling in not five minutes ago walked by. Not even fazed by Sam's slight glare, Dean's hand shot out and gently grabbed the waitress's wrist. Matching his brother's glare with a smug look, Dean looked up, immediately noting the woman's name tag.

"Maggie," Dean smiled up at the young woman, her cheeks stained red at the nice looking man's attention. "I'm sorry, but my brother and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I was hoping you could tell us a little more about this 'Tall Man' who your friend went off to hunt. Sounds pretty interesting."

Cheeks still red, she glanced around the diner to make sure that the older waitress from earlier was busy before she plopped down in the booth next to Sam, pushing him closer to the wall in the process. She looked at both of the men before she began talking in a low voice.

"Over in Ashland, Georgia people been goin' missin'. Ain't nobody been able to find them. They go in the woods to hunt the Tall Man—right—and don' many of them come back out. The ones that do are usually so off their rocker that they get sent straight to Milledgeville."

"What's in Milledgeville?" Sam questioned the woman.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise before realization spread across her face. "Y'all ain't from around here, are ya?" Both of the men shrugged in response. "Milledgeville is where the crazy house is. Those people who get away from the Tall Man ain't right in the head afterward. Always babblin' bout this tall, white figure playin' 'mind games' with 'em, always poppin' up in front of them when they runnin' away. That's where the name Tall Man came from!"

Dean looked at Sam, who just rolled his eyes as he realized his older brother wasn't going to dismiss this like he should, before he turned back to the woman across from him. "You wouldn't by chance have a map to Ashland would you?"

Maggie's eyes widened once more. "Why would you wanna go the Ashland? It's a one stop town and-" Before she could finish the old woman from before walked up behind her and popped her on the head again.

"I swear child, if I didn't know your maw, you would've been fired a long time ago!" Maggie gave the boys an apologetic look before rushing after the older woman to make sure her job was safe.

The table was silent for a moment before Dean looked to his brother.

"So…wanna hunt a Tall Man?" he asked with an innocently excited smile.

"Dad's journal never said anything about a 'Tall Man'," Sam pointed out.

The eldest shrugged in response and began digging into his back pocket for his wallet. "So? We can find our own monsters. I'm sure Dad didn't have a run in with every boogieman out there."

Sam let out a sigh and finally consented with a short "Fine." A second before the two stood from the corner booth an old worn map plopped down in front of them, and by the time they looked up from the folded paper Maggie the waitresses was already walking away towards another family packed table. She looked over her shoulder and threw a wink in Dean's direction before getting back to work.

Dean gave her a smile before turning his attention back to Sam, who already had the map opened and was leaning over studying it.

Looking up from the map, Sam raised his eyebrows at his brother before nodding towards the paper. One small word was circled on the map and several roads that would lead them off the highway they had been traveling and onto the back roads of Georgia had been highlighted. Dean grinned and snatched the map up, rolling into a cylinder as he practically skipped out of diner.

"Looks like we are going to Ashland!"

* * *

A few hours away from where the Winchesters were enjoying their breakfast, in a town called Ashland, a young woman sat in front of an easel. Her hands and clothes were covered in dark shades of greens and browns, a smudge of black paint was running down her left cheek.

She sat back and looked at the finished painting in front of her and sighed.

There was no question that the beautiful painting was of the woods that lie just outside of her window. The dark shades faded into one another, however even an untrained eyes could pick out the sharp point of every pine needle and individual leaves hanging from the trees and the small dots of fallen acorn, pecans, and pinecones. The woman's focus was not on any of these details though, only the small black shadow that stood out behind the trunks of the brown trees.

The shadow looked as though it could reach out of the painting and latch onto the person in front of it if they stared too hard. Only one long arm was visible, long bony white fingers protruded from the end. Only half of the shadow's face could be seen, but it was enough for an onlooker to see that there was no face or any features that would make the figure look human. It was obviously a hidden monster hiding in the shadows, waiting for its next prey.

The woman quickly stood from her seat and paced across the room, pulling her shoes on in the process. She needed to get out. To get away from the nightmare she had just painted.

To escape before he got her.

Within a minute she was out of her house and on the sidewalk, quickly making her way towards the only small general store in Ashland. Her walk ended faster than she had anticipated as she faced the doors to the store. With one heave of the large door, she made her way inside and down to the frozen food aisle. The store was so small that, despite being in one of the far corner of the store, the young woman could still see out the large windows. Thankfully, a small hunched figure wobbling along the sidewalk helped distract her from the strip of trees (part of the very same woods she could see from her house) across the street.

Roseanna Grant was the oldest inhabitant of the small town of Ashland. She was almost eighty-seven years of age, but she still bee-bopped around the town like she was twenty-five. Most of the town's people were skeptical of Roseanna as she was quite the character. The front yard of her two story home was cluttered in vines and various spices and herbs that she had been planting for years. Broken lawn ornaments littered the slightly over grown grass, and a fat lazy black cat slept on the front stoop, only moving when the old woman brought it out a bowl of cream.

Roseanna was always ranting about one thing or another, and it was this that unsettled many of the town's inhabitants. She would skip up to a young woman or man and tell them that their recently deceased parent had found their way to the light and asked her to tell their children that they were happy and at rest. She once sat in the middle of the town playground with a young boy talking and playing with his dog that had died some months before. However, it wasn't always happy things she brought to light. Roseanna had a knack of calling out some of the town's darkest of secrets, like how the mayor's wife was having an affair with the sheriff or how the principal for the local high school was funneling school funds in order to finance a hot tub for his back yard.

If it weren't for Roseanna's attendance at the local Baptist church every Sunday, where she sat in the front row with one hand waving a small paper fan and the other always in the air praising God, many would think she had made a deal with the devil.

Roseanna walked around the small town of Ashland twice a day, rain or shine, along the way stopping in every store to tell its workers hello and to wish them a good day. Today was no different. The old woman had just stepped into the general store when she noticed the young woman standing at the end of the frozen food aisle juggling two cartons of ice cream.

"Oh child!" Roseanna called as she hurried over to help the young woman. "Let Ol'Rosey help ya with these things. Ya need ta find ya a young man to come help ya carry all this stuff around." The woman smiled at Roseanna, accepting her help, and they made their way towards the front of the store.

"We don't all catch the eyes of men like you do Ms. Rosey," the young woman replied as she placed her items up on the counter. The cashier stood silent for a moment, only giving Roseanna a skeptical look, before ringing up the purchase.

Only after the young woman had paid and she and Roseanna exited the store did the old woman speak again. Her small wrinkled hand latched onto the younger woman's, halting her from walking away.

"You just hold on Miss Abigail," The young woman stopped and looked down at the short lady holding her in place. "You don' have ta worry no more child. The Lord's sendin' someone ta save ya from ya nightmare."

Abigail moved back away from the woman with a start and slightly pulled back on her hand, but the old woman just held on tighter.

"They gonna come an' make the nightmare go away, an' then you gonna sleep peacefully again. You hear me child? I said they gonna come help ya."

Abigail slowly nodded in acknowledgement as Roseanna finally let go of the younger woman's arm.

"Praise God!" Roseanna smiled, pulling Abigail into a tight hug then turning on her heel and making her way down the sidewalk, a slight skip in her step. "Praise God, they gonna be here any day now!"

Abigail watched, frozen in place, with wide eyes as the old woman disappeared down the street. Her heart pounded inside her chest, and for a moment she thought it would beat right out. She stood there, her cartons of recently purchased ice cream melting, until the faint sound of a twig snapping caught her attention.

Her eyes snapped up to where the edge of the woods began behind the general store, frantically searching the dark shrubby as her thudding heart skipped a beat. A dark shadow danced just within the tree line tempting her to move closer to it.

With a gulp Abigail bounced on her heels and began walking quickly back towards her home. Her nightmare just followed her from its place hidden just within the tree line, never leaving her peripheral vision until she was safely back inside her home, doors and windows locked and dead bolted.

As if that would truly keep it from reaching her.

* * *

AN: Hello! So this is my first Supernatural story and I;m really excited about it. Thank you for reading it this far! Please feel free to leave me reviews with comments/constructive criticism to help me along in this process. I just started college so there is no real update schedule that I'm sticking to, I;m just doing this for fun.

Fun Facts about this story:

1. It takes place in the time between season 1-3 because I personally liked those seasons the best and I prefer pre-hell Dean because of reasons

2. Ashland, Georgia is not a real place. I made it up because that's easier then researching for the perfect little rural Georgia town to fit the story.

3. I am from Georgia so I apologize in advance for my extreme use of the southern accent

4. My sister, LeaderPinhead, is my beta. Blame her for the crappy grammar and misspellings ;)

5. If you haven't already guessed from the title, the monster in the story is born from the oh so popular Slenderman story. I have put my own twist on the back story and the plot is totally mine. I'm actually surprised that I haven't read a Slenderman story in this fandom yet (though I didn't really look for one). So, if you need a visual of what the Tall Man looks like then just look up Slenderman. However, the looks of each monster are about as far as the similarities for these two go.

Thanks again for reading :)  
-OhNoImAYoungAdult


	2. Chapter 2

The Tall Man  
Chapter One

Sam Winchester had picked up on a wide variety of talents while traveling across America with his older brother. Among those talents were fighting, speaking in ancient Latin, and sleeping through Dean's endless Eighties metal bands collection as the older brother blasted them in the small space of his cherished '67 Chevy Impala.

Sam's face was pressed up against the cool glass of the window, eyes closed and falling into a serene dream-like state. Dean sat across from him, his eyes on the fast passing road while drumming out the chorus of an obscure song all while a Twizzler hung from the corner his lips. They had only been in the car for an hour before Dean had pulled off into a truck stop in order to procure a few candy bars and a bag of Twizzlers for their short five hour trip to Ashland, Georgia. Sam had watched his brother drive for five minutes straight while stuffing candy bar after candy bar into his mouth, head bobbing back and forth with the bass of the music playing, before he had rolled his eyes and turned towards the window in hopes of getting a few hours of sleep to counteract his late night researching from the night before.

This had all taken place a few hours ago and now Dean was fumbling for his last Twizzler from the empty plastic wrap when a passing sign caught his attention. The sign was weathered and looked to only be hanging on by three nails; "_Welcome to Ashland, Georgia_" was painted in simple, bold white letters across just like any other "Welcome" sign they had encountered. But just below the words, in messily carved letters, the message "_Beware of the Tall Man" _stood out as an eerie warning.

Kind of ironic with the homey (and delicious) looking pie that was embossed beside the greetings.

Dean smiled at the promise of what seemed like a good chase (and pie; never forget the pie) and looked over towards his brother in order to make a joke about what demon the town's people must have pissed off. However, seeing his dozing little brother spurred a new idea in Dean's head. Keeping one eye on the road, Dean plucked the last Twizzler from where he had automatically stuck it in his mouth and began to poke Sam's exposed cheek with it. The poking lasted for about two minutes before Dean finally conceded that he was not going to wake his brother and, seeing the small town approaching in the distance, he quickly planned a new form attack to wake him sleeping brother.

With one hand on the wheel, Dean swung his other hand into Sam's chest, gripping the loose fabric of his grey shirt, and began screaming at the top of his lungs. Sam instantly woke with a jump, his head hitting the top of the car with a dull thud and grabbing whatever surface he could reach while releasing a scream to match Dean's. Sam finally stopped screaming when his brother's yells turned into guffawing laughter, looking around almost blindly until he finally realized they were in no real danger. He sent Dean a scathing glare.

"Welcome to Ashland!" Dean wheezed out through his laughing as they began to pass by old brick buildings. He stuck his Twizzler back into his mouth as he reluctantly slowed down to just above the fifteen miles per hour speed limit. They eventually pulled into the small parking lot of a run-down yet surprisingly clean looking motel.

Sam continued to glare at Dean as he pulled himself out of the car. "Jerk," he mumbled before making his way to the trunk of the car to pull out him bag.

"Bitch." Dean tossed his half-eaten Twizzler at Sam's head, missing by a mere inch, before joining him at the back of the car to retrieve his bag. Sam rolled his eyes, ignoring his brother's antics, and walked towards the front door of the motel. Dean slammed the truck closed and waltzed after his brother.

"Let's see what this little town has to offer."

000

Sam walked out of the small motel bathroom of the room that the men were sharing to find Dean flipping through several fake IDs he had haphazardly thrown onto the middle of the bed he had claimed.

"What do you think?" Dean held up two different IDs. "FBI or Area 51?"

Sam's face fell into its ever present _"_You have got to be kidding me" face as answer to Dean's question. "There is no such thing as Area 51, Dean."

Dean's smile fell slightly at Sam's statement before perking back up and shoving the ID that claimed he was from Area 51 into the inside pocket of suit jacket. "They don't know that. People from little ol' towns like this believe anyone in a fancy suit."

Sam rolled his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day before moving over towards his bed and fishing his fake FBI ID out of his bag. He picked up the ID that matched his own (only with Dean's face on instead of his) forced it into his brother's hand.

"Are you ready to go?" Sam didn't even wait for Dean's answer before he walked to the door. Turning around he saw that Dean hadn't moved since he entered the room.

"So that's a no to being Area 51 agents?" Dean's arms went up in a questioning gesture. Sam let out an annoyed huff then opened the door and walked out, throwing an "I'll be in the car" over his shoulder. The door closed completely before Dean replied but Sam could still here his voice through the thin wall.

"Can we at least talk about it? …I'm still taking it for backup!"

000

The men walked into the small town diner and fell into a worn booth. They had scoured the small town looking for any information about the Tall Man. Most of the information they found was no different from what the waitress in Alabama had told them, but it was helpful nonetheless.

The middle aged librarian told them that the Tall Man apparently stayed deep within the woods, however she was entirely skeptical about the supernatural creature's presence. Many of the middle aged patrons in the town thought that the Tall Man was all just something that the younger generation came up with to explain the disappearing college kids and random drunks that went missing while camping in the dense woods that surrounded the town. They made sure to give more logical explanations for the disappearance by claiming them to be related to the fact that many of the young people who went into the woods went in looking for trouble, were usually armed to the nines in alcohol, and none were really taught how to properly survive in the wilderness.

When it became obvious to them that the older generation of the small town believed the whole story to be bogus lies, they began questioning the younger generations. The teenage boy who worked as the only cashier in the general store told them most of what they knew now. At first the young kid was very closed lip about it, absolutely refusing to even say the world "tall" and "man" in the same sentence, but after Dean told him that he would be a hero and impress the girl who was quietly stacking cans in the back of the store he kept throwing glances at every few minutes if he helped them find what was stalking around in the woods.

After that little encouragement they almost couldn't get the poor boy to stop talking.

"What can I get y'all?" an older lady stepped up to their booth just as the men sat down, a happy smile on her face at the prospect of getting to serve someone other than the locals that normally inhabited the little diner. The Winchester's placed their orders, a hamburger for Dean and a garden salad for Sam (which earned him a patronizing look from the eldest brother), and the old lady walked away to place their orders.

"So," Dean began as soon as the woman was out of hearing range, "all we got is that there is something hanging out in the woods; it likes to take people who go into the woods, but otherwise leaves the locals alone; and it definitely hasn't been here for long with the way the old people aren't all over the story."

"Guy at the bowling alley said there has never been any case of this 'Tall Man' coming out of the woods to get anyone, but no one in the town really tries to call him out," Sam added, looking down at the hastily scribbled notes he had taken while questioning people after he and Dean had parted ways. "Description wise everyone—at least everyone that actually believes in this thing—says just about the same thing: tall (as if we couldn't figure _that _out from the name), thin, long limbs, and no face. Um." Sam scanned his notes, looking for anything else. "That's about it. It hides 'in the shadows'apparently. The only people who have gotten a good enough look at this thing have completely lost their minds, if they even had one to begin with."

"What are we looking at here, Sammy?" Dean leaned slightly across the table and lowered his voice. "Demon, raging spirit?"

"Dean, I hate to say I told you so but-"

Before he could finish the old waitress returned with their food and placed it in front of them. Once the woman had walked away both of the men jumped at the sight of a much older woman who had instantaneously materialized where the waitress had been standing at the small two person table. It was almost as if someone had moved the table closer to the booth because the old woman's chair was practically sitting next to Sam. The woman gave the boys a toothy smile and chuckled.

"Go 'head and keep ya' whisperin' boys. Ol' Rosey can' 'ear a thing ya say anyways." The old woman let out another cackle and stirred her cup of tea, which, much like the old woman, seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Both of the men warily stared at the elderly woman as she smiled down at her tea. After neither of the Winchesters began talking again, "Ol' Rosey" looked at them with slightly raised eyebrows.

"I believe ya left off with decidin' if the Tall Man's a demon or an angered soul." The men's eyes widened as they turned to look at each other and then back at the old woman, who just continued smiling. "I've 'eard worse theories bu' it ain't right either. Close bu' no cigar!"

Sam's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "I'm sorry but how long have you been sitting there?"

The old woman's eyebrows raised even higher in amusement. "I been sittin' here since ya walked in young man. An' here I thought I dressed up all pretty taday."

"Look, lady-"

"Roseanna."

"What?" Dean was caught off guard when the woman interrupted him.

"My name, young man, is Roseanna. An' ya'd do right ta remember it 'cause Lord knows I'ma en' up helpin' you boys." She lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow, challenging Dean to say contradict her in some way. "Ya gotta problem with that, _pretty boy_?"

"How do you know what we're looking for?" Sam cut in before Dean could attempt to out-sass the woman, a fight he was sure he brother would lose.

"The voices been talkin' boys," Roseanna said with another cackle as she enjoyed her warm beverage.

"And just what do these voices say?" Dean leaned closer to the woman, eyes slightly squinted. She leaned in also, taking Dean's silent challenge to find out just who of the two were in charge of the situation.

"They been sayin' you two are smart, an' ya good at what ya do." Dean smirked at her words but before he could so much as nod in agreement with her, Roseanna continued. "They also said you as dumb as a sack o' bricks an' stubborn as a horse. That's why Ol' Rosey's 'ere: ta give a gentle shove in the right direction."

Despite the woman's words, Sam couldn't stop the smile that fell on his face as Dean's smug smirk fell.

"Well if you know so much, _Roseanna," _Dean began, "then what is this thing?"

At his question all the playfulness left Roseanna's brown eyes, and she moved even closer to the boys, the chair ominously scrapping against the linoleum floor as her voice dropped into a whisper.

"He. It aint a thing; it's a _he_. And _he'_s a nightmare." A dark look fell across the old woman's wrinkled face and any hint of amusement before was completely gone and replaced with a haunting, fearful look. "He's a nightmare that lives in the shadows an' waits for his prey. Always waitin'."

"How do we kill it?" Sam spoke up this time to question Roseanna. She turned to face him, giving him a "Are you _dumb_?" look.

"Now If I knew that ya wouldn' be here, now would ya' boy? I thought you was the smart one." Sam's jaw clenched and he turned to look at Dean who looked just as confused.

"Somethin' dark happened in this town boys." Roseanna gravely told them as she leaned back into her chair. "Somethin' so dark that mos' people who been here fo'eva' been blockin' it out fo' a _long_ time, pretendin' it aint never happen. But it did, and now dere's a bad nightmare out there, hidin' and waitin' fo' it's poor victim ta fin'lly give in."

Before either of the Winchesters could question her further, the little bell above the door of the diner chimed and a young woman walked in, a dark blue satchel with the logo of the postal service slung over her shoulder. Roseanna stood abruptly from her chair, her smile firmly in place again.

"You boys are smart, the voices tol' me so. Ya' wouldn't be 'ere if ya' weren't. You'll figure it out in no time." She patted Sam on the head and was walking away from the speechless boys all in one moment.

The boys continued to watch her as she made her way across the diner and pulled the young woman who had just entered the diner into a bone crushing hug.

"Well that was strange. I thought the old people in this town didn't believe in the Tall Man." Sam pulled a face, but Dean wasn't paying his brother any attention his focus still followed Roseanna and the young woman. The younger brother carried on with repeating what the old woman had told them until he finally noticed that Dean's mind was elsewhere.

"Dean." Sam snapped his fingers in front of the eldest brother's face. When Dean finally pulled his eyes away from the pair that was now walking out of the diner and back to his brother, he noticed the exasperated look Sam was giving him. Dean's eyebrows raised in question and his lips slightly pursed.

"What?" he shrugged "Cute mail carrier; can't blame a man for noticing." Ignoring his brother, Dean moved his attention down the now cold hamburger that had been left forgotten at the beginning of their conversation and took a huge bite out of it. He worked his jaw around the mouthful of food and gestured at the brunet, who was now looking at him with familiar disgust. "You were saying?"

000

"I told ya' sweetie!" Roseanna's excited voice filled the air as they walked up to the front gate of the house. Abigail smiled down at the short, slightly hunched over woman. Her wrinkled face was even more scrunched up because of her never failing toothy smile. Ever since they had walked out of the diner, Roseanna had been going on about how she was right when she told Abigail that the old man at the corner store had the "hots" for the old woman and had finally gained the courage to ask her out for lunch next week.

"Yeah, you told me Ms. Rosey." The young woman walked up the front stoop of here house but had yet to open the always dead bolted door. The smile that always seemed to naturally grace her features when Roseanna was around fell as a shadow on the corner of the porch caught the corner of her eye. All thoughts of getting into her house and the still talking Roseanna left as Abigail stared blankly at the trees at the edge of the woods.

Abigail jumped at a sudden touch to her arm. Roseanna patted the younger woman on the back, noticing where her attention had been directed to.

"Don' worry child. 'Member wha' Ol'Rosey told ya'? They be someone comin' ta help ya'.They gonna get rid o' ya' nightmare child."

Abigail nodded in acknowledgement of the woman's statement even if she didn't completely believe it. With one final pat to Abigail's back, Roseanna turned on her heel and began to make her way back down the sidewalk.

"Ge' on in ya' house, child," she called over her shoulder before disappearing around a corner. Abigail found herself nodding again at the old woman's words, despite the fact that she had already walked away.

With one final look towards the trees, Abigail mechanically unlocked the door and entered her house. Since dusk was only minutes away, the young woman began her usual routine of walking through her dusty two story home and making sure all of the windows were locked and dead bolted while turning on every single light that could be found in the home. Hallway, bedroom, bathroom, closet, lamps: anything with a working bulb was switched on and anything with a blown one was immediately replaced by one of the hundred spares she had tucked away in her bedroom closet.

A high light bill was a very steep price to pay, especially since her nightmare lived in the shadows.

000

The Winchester brothers were making their way slowly back to their motel, having decided to leave the Impala at the motel that morning and walk around the small town instead. Now as the sun had set and darkness began to engulf the town, the men were looking for anything that struck them as "suspicious". But so far, aside from a giggling teenage couple they had walked past at the mouth of an alley, there was no one else out on the darkening streets.

Just as the boys were about to give up their search and make haste back to their motel room and bright light caught their attention.

On a small side road, just down the street from the general store and the diner, stood a single house. While the house looked slightly haunted with it chipping white paint and falling picket fence it was obvious that the house must have been a grand house at some point. A perfect little stereotypical two story country home, perfect for a just starting family. A huge oak tree stood tall in the front to the house and just beyond it stood the haunting woods of Ashland.

As darkness finally settled on the town the small house stood out in the darkness like a bright beacon. Its porch light, of what must have been of the highest wattage, sent a beam of light into the darkness, illuminating the entirety of the house's small wrap around porch and small front yard. Just beyond the house, in the trees, a shadow danced around bending with the sway of the trees in the wind.

Neither of the men got a definite look but obviously something was there, just beyond the trees. Something that only their skilled eyes would be able to pick up.

"Well." Sam looked over at Dean, who continued to stare at the tree line with slightly squinted eyes. "There's definitely something out there."

"Think it's this 'Tall Man'?"

"Honestly? We've just heard a bunch of repeated stories from teenagers for the most part and crazy old woman who might just be off her rocker. There really isn't much to go by here, and I wouldn't be very surprised if it just ended up being some teenager's joke."

Dean pursed his lip in doubt as the dancing shadow vanished from sight, and the two continued towards the motel. As skilled and consciously aware of their surroundings as the Winchesters' believed they were, neither noticed the darkened shadow that lurked just inside the alley they had just passed, seemingly staring straight at them before seamlessly blending back into its dark domain.


	3. Chapter 3

The Tall Man

Chapter Two

The Winchesters had not been asleep for more than a couple hours before an insistent pounding on the motel room door woke them. Neither brother attempted to roll out of their beds, silently challenging each other to see who would give first and put a stop to the knocking. Finally hearing enough of the noise, Dean grabbed an extra pillow off the bed and lobbed it over in Sam's direction, effectively hitting the younger man in the face. Sam tossed the offending object onto the floor before rolling over with an annoyed huff so that his back faced his brother. The knocking never stopped during the brothers' silent battle of wills.

"Sam," Dean sleepily huffed out. "Door."

The command forced the younger brother to turn and look across the room at the still sleeping Dean. "Why can't you get it?"

Without another word, Dean's fist popped up above him in the bed. "Rock, paper, scissors."

Sam huffed but lifted his fist in battle. Dean counted off, and at his call, Sam held up "rock," rolling his eyes at Dean's curse of defeat. As always, Dean had lost due to his choice of using scissors for the umpteenth time. Dean begrudgingly shuffled across the dark motel room and swung the door open, all while half asleep and with eyes closed.

The young manager of the motel stood at the door, fist still poised to knock and a look of panic covered his face. The skinny young man—really still only a boy—visibly swallowed when coming face to face with the eldest Winchester, and his voice shook as his talked. "Y'all said y'all was FBI right?"

The man's shaking gaze moved from Dean to Sam, who was now sitting up in his bed. Dean's eyebrows rose at the question, and he looked back at Sam, who looked equally as confused, then back at the young man. "Yeah, that's us. Couldn't this have until, I don't know, morning?"

The manager nervously swallowed again at Dean's cynical tone, his eyes dropping down to his shifting feet. By now Sam was out of bed and standing next to his brother. "Please excuse my partner, he gets cranky when his beauty sleep is disturbed." Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You seem pretty shaken up. Did something happen?"

Sam, ever the compassionate brother, spoke in a calm voice, trying to figure out why this young man was acting as though he had just seen a ghost. The young man gulped again, though his panic had been slightly diminished thanks to the younger brother. He took a step back from the opened door before answering.

"Sheriff Beck said not ta come get y'all, but I thought that if the FBI waz in town lookin' into the Tall Man den they should know when somethin' happens. I didn't mean to be disruptin' y'all so late." Both of the Winchesters woke up a little more at the mention of the subject of their current hunt.

"Has someone else gone missing in the woods?" Dean asked over his shoulder as both of the brothers moved back into the room to throw on whatever clothes they needed in order to go investigate what had happened.

"No," the young man stepped back up to the door to watch them scramble around the small room, pulling on the first thing they encountered lying on the floor or furniture. "That's why Sheriff Beck said ta not get y'all. He aint too happy 'bout y'all snoopin' 'round town."

This wasn't anything new to the boys. The Sheriff's office had been the first place they had visited in order to find any information on the mysterious Tall Man sightings and abductions, however the local sheriff hadn't been very forthcoming with them. He had curtly told them there was nothing going on in the small town other than the normal petty theft and teenagers getting lost in the woods before rudely dismissing them from his office and locking the door behind them. Needless to say, their first impression of the man hadn't been a very good one either.

"Yeah, buddy, we know old Becky isn't happy about us being here," Dean muttered while picking up his fake FBI ID in case it was needed and then stepped out of the room followed by Sam. "But we're here anyways trying to solve a problem he obviously can't. So, what happened that the good sheriff doesn't want us to know about if no one has gone missing?"

"Someone went missin'."

Sam looked down at the man with a confused look as they walked towards the front of the motel. "You just said that no one went missing in the woods."

"Wasn't in da woods." The three men reached the front of the motel to find bright red and blue lights flashing not far down the street from them. The bright lights looked odd against the dark backdrop that had fallen over the tiny town. "Boy went missin' in town this time. Was walkin' his girlfriend home when da Tall Man got 'em."

Dean, who was a few paces ahead as they walked towards the flashing lights, stopped short and turned to the man who in turn stumbled over his own feet at the sudden forced stop. "Wait, this kid was taken in _town_? We were told that only people who go in the woods get taken."

The young man rapidly nodded his head, looking at Dean with wide-eyed shock as the Winchester hitched his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of the woods in question. "This is da first time he's come up from da woods ta get someone."

Sam, unseen by the young man rolled his eyes. "How do we even know if this 'Tall Man' took the guy? Before tonight no one has been kidnapped while in town and now all of a sudden this monster is changing his M.O.?"

The young man visibly shrunk back at the mention of the monster before straightening out and answering. "Ally said it was da Tall Man! Ally wouldn't lie ta no one."

"Who is Ally?" Dean question. He might have been a little too harsh from the way the kid twitched, but he was starting to get annoyed, running on little to no sleep and feeling as though they were just moving in circles with this line of questioning.

"She's Jimmy's girl and Father Hendry's daughter." The motel manager shrugged as if this was common knowledge, which to a local it was.

"Jimmy is the kid that went missing?" It was like pulling teeth trying to get a full answer out of this guy. Sam shot his brother a look, and Dean just rolled his eyes. The young man was nodding again, looking like an abused bobblehead, and motioned his wobbly head back towards the flashing lights down the road.

"I was lockin' up for the night when I heard Ally scream, an' I went runnin' down the street ta see what was happenin'. It only took me a minute, but by the time I got down there, Jimmy was gone an' Ally was cryin' 'bout the Tall Man gettin' 'im. I called the sheriff, and he came out, and when he got there, I told 'im I was gonna get y'all cuz y'all the FBI, but he told me not to cuz y'all was strangers and didn't need to be here." The young man was rambling now, but the Winchesters were already ignoring him and walking towards the blinking lights of the only three local police cars.

Upon reaching the scene of the disappearance, the Winchesters flashed their fake badges to the young town cop who was in charge of keeping everyone who crowded the space back far enough that they didn't get in the way of the investigation currently in process. A little farther down the road, the sheriff and detective were kneeling in front of a shaking young girl who couldn't be any older than sixteen. Upon seeing the Winchesters arrive, the sheriff straightened to his full height, effectively blocking the men from seeing the terrified young woman, and took a few steps towards them.

"Aint it a li'l late for you boys to be up?" Instead of it coming out in a joking manner, the sheriff's statement almost sounded like a threat, daring the boys to step up to him. However, that wasn't nearly enough to deter either of the Winchesters.

Sheriff Beck had been the man in charge in Ashland for almost twelve years now. Since he had become the small town's sheriff, he had single handedly seen to the reducing the town's small crime rings, including the take down of a small drug house that had opened on the outskirts of town during his fifth year if service. He was a large man, over six feet in height, and despite the pot belly that seemed to be growing as he aged, he was still what most women his age—forty six— would consider fit. However, it was his eyes that caught most people off guard. Dark grey bulbs that could light up in a moment of happiness and joy but then fall into a deathly flat glare at any sign of trouble or annoyance. This was how he looked now at the Winchesters, two steely, flat circles narrowed in distrust and hate.

"Sheriff." Dean nodded in acknowledgement in the old man's direction, however his focus stayed trained on the scene behind the man. "Heard you had another disappearance."

"Aint nothin' we can't handle. Why don't y'all just head back to Washington; ya' aint needed here." Dislike was clear in the sheriff's voice.

"With all due respect sir," Sam cut in before the sheriff could voice his distaste in them being there anymore. "We all want the same thing here. People keep going missing, and we want that to stop. The faster we track down and get the one responsible for it, the quicker we can move on and get out of your hair."

The sheriff stared hard at the boys, eyes slightly narrowed, for a few moments before reluctantly nodding his head and motioning over his shoulder at the now silently sobbing girl. The man figured that if he complied with the young FBI agents, then he could get them out of his town all the faster.

"Ally Hendry," Sheriff Beck informed the men. "She's the daughter of the preacher of the Baptist church. Her and her boyfriend—Jimmy Snyder—were out sneaking around after curfew."

The curfew—as the boys had learned the day before from some of the older inhabitants of the town—had been placed on all the kids after some out of town college students had gone missing in the woods a couple of months back. After a couple of young boys had been caught trying to sneak into the woods after dark to go find the mysterious Tall Man and bring back the missing people, it had been unanimously decided that all town inhabitants eighteen and under were required to be home before the sun went completely down, and anyone found to be breaking the rule would spend the night in the town jailhouse. The older people had believed that the scare tactic had worked on the majority of the youth, but it was apparent now that it hadn't made as much of an impact as they had thought.

"She said Jimmy was walkin' her home when they decided to cut down an ally as a shortcut. Something grabbed Jimmy from the shadows, and before she could scream both Jimmy and whoever grabbed him were gone."

The Winchesters both remained quiet as the sheriff finished his short retelling of the night's events.

"That's it?" Dean asked after a moment of silence. "No one else saw anything? No other evidence that the thing that grabbed this kid came out of the woods?"

Sheriff Beck huffed in annoyance. "Boy, I told you yesterday there wasn't anythin' in them woods takin' people."

Dean's shoulders raised as he straightened himself to his full height in order to step up to the old man's hostile words. However before Dean could utter even a word, Sam stepped in. "Can we talk to the witness?"

Sheriff Beck was slightly taken back at Sam's question, already prepared to have another verbal spat with the elder Winchester, but nonetheless shrugged his shoulders.

"Ask Father Hendry before you go askin' his girl any questions." Beck nodded his head back towards where the girls sat on the sidewalk, now in the arms of a much older man who they assumed was her father. The two men moved around the sheriff and made their way over to the girl who had finally seemed to put a cap on her sobs.

The young blond sat on the ground quietly whispering to her father. Her bright blue eyes were a swollen from her tears, and her nose was a bright red from constant wiping. Neither she nor Father Hendry noticed the two men until they came to a stop in front of them.

"Hey there," Sam said, squatting down so that he was eye level with the girl. "Ally, right?"

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Father Hendry spoke up before the young girl could respond. Dean, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, flipped open the cover of his fake badge.

"FBI" Sam replied. "We're in town looking into the reason why so many people keep going missing." Ally sniffed, eyes moving from her dad, then to Sam, and finally settling on Dean.

"Are y'all gonna find Jimmy?" she asked in a small voice.

"We are going to try really hard to find him." Sam answered, sending the girl a small smile. In the next moment Sheriff Beck walked over and asked to talk to Father Hendry alone, leaving Sam and Dean alone with Ally.

"You believe me right?" Ally asked, her eyes still focused on her father's retreating form.

"That someone took Jimmy?" Dean's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Ally only stared back, her eyes still holding a note of hysteria.

"Not someone. Something." The girl's eyes jumped from Sam to Dean as they shared a look. "The Sheriff and my dad don't believe me. They say I was just scared and couldn't possibly understand what I was seeing. They said my mind just made me think that I saw it, and it wasn't actually there. But it was! I know it was! I saw its hands when it grabbed him—long white fingers that dragged him back into the dark. I could hear Jimmy screaming one moment, and then the next it was just quiet. A normal person can't shut someone up that quick, not the way it did to Jimmy. I know what I saw, and I aint crazy!"

Hysteria filled the girl's voice before she suddenly curled in on herself, head down but eyes jumping from one point to another, never staying on one point for long. Sam caught the girl's eyes and wouldn't allow them to look away. "Ally, what took Jimmy?"

The girl leaned in, head slightly bowed and eyes focused intently on Sam's. Her answer came out as a quiet, harsh whisper.

"The Tall Man."

**)(**

Dean and Sam stood on the corner of the street an hour later, watching as the blue and red lights slowly faded into the darkness. An ambulance had been called at Father Hendry's insistence to transport Ally over to a neighboring town's hospital in order to make sure she was okay physically, and two of the three local police cars served as an escort. The last was heading in the opposite direction, towards the police station.

Dean finally dropped his gaze from the lights and looked over at his brother. "So," he said as he shuffled from one foot too another, a stupid grin on his face, "still believe there isn't anything here?"

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother before turning on his heel and starting to make his way back in the direction of their motel. "There is something here," he said over his shoulder, prompting the eldest brother too follow him. However, Dean only walked about a few feet in the direction of the motel before something caught his eye and forced him to stop.

At the end of the side street they were passing stood the brightly lit house they had noticed in their previous walk through of the town. The house seemed even brighter now that the sun had completely set and total darkness enveloped the town, but now the house had a little more life to it. Standing out on the small wrap around porch was a lone figure facing out towards the woods, but despite the amount of light coming from the house, it was impossible to see any defining characteristics of the figure. The only thing he could tell was that it had the obvious silhouette of a women.

Sam, noticing that Dean had been distracted once again, turned to see what had caught his brother's attention. With a yawn, Sam asked if Dean wanted them to go see who the person was, but with a wave of his hand, Dean shooed his brother back in the direction of their motel. Sam shrugged but wasn't going to turn down the chance to get a couple more hours of shut eye. The brothers went their separate ways—Dean towards the figure standing in front of the brightly lit house, and Sam towards the warmth of his small motel bed.

Dean was almost standing outside the fence surrounding the house before he could make out the figure on the porch was none other than the "cute mail carrier" that he had seen from only a distance earlier that day in the diner. A smirk danced across his lips, and he used one hand to sweep across the top of his short hair, making sure it looked appealing, before shoving both hands deeply into his pockets. "Excuse me?"

Dean's strong voice cut through the night like a knife and caused the woman to jump about a foot in the air. Finally noticing the man standing just a few feet from her front porch, the woman let out a nervous laugh and apologized for her reaction, which the man shrugged off. Dean pulled out his fake FBI badge and flashed it at her, trying to make up for the obvious fright he had given her, and he grinned at how the woman attempted to repress an eye roll.

"What can I do for ya, _sir?"_ Despite the question it was obvious that the young woman didn't feel like talking to the man.

Dean cleared his throat, clearly not liking the woman's disinterest. "Excuse me Miss, but I'm here looking into several disappearances that have taken place in the woods outside of Ashland. Me and my partner have been interviewing people all day, but I don't think we've had the pleasure of talking to you. I would've remembered encountering a woman as beautiful as yourself if we had." The woman's eyebrows slightly lifted at Dean's thinly veiled and poorly timed attempt at flirting. "I know it's late now, but perhaps you have something you would like to say about this, or maybe you saw something tonight. Another kid has gone missing."

At the mention of another kid missing, the woman let out a dry, humorless chuckle while wrapping her arms tightly around herself. "Stupid kid."

Her sudden cold tone took Dean by surprised. "Excuse me?" he questioned, not sure he had her correctly.

The woman suddenly turned her focus from the woods that she had barely looked away from since Dean had walked up and focused on the confused Dean.

"Stupid kids," she slowly repeated. "They know something is out there, but they still act stupid 'bout everything. They're supposed to be inside 'fore it gets dark to avoid situations like this, but do they listen? No." The woman huffed and turned her flat eyes back to the woods. Dean moved even closer to the fence, tempted to enter the yard, but he restrained himself out of fear that the woman would refuse to continue to talk to him.

"So you think there really is something out there?" Dean's head slightly tilted as another humorless chuckle left the woman.

"I don't think. I _know._" She shrugged and wrapped her arms tighter around herself as she stared into the dark treeline. "You've gotta be stupid to think there aint notin' out there."

"Well, Sherriff Beck seems to think nothing suspicious is happening around here. Everything can be explained away according to him."

"Yeah, well the sheriff's an idiot."

Dean's eyebrows raised and he shrugged in an agreeing manner. "Well my partner and I are here to find out what's going on here and put a stop to it." His hands went to the fence as he slightly leaned over it, trying to appear assured in his statement to the woman. With the roll of her eyes, the woman moved towards the door of the house, and her eyes only strayed from the woods for a split second to glance at Dean before returning to the trees.

"Well good luck with that mister." Her voice was full of sarcasm as she reached to open the door, finally turning away from the woods all together to move inside. Dean, noticing the woman was done with the conversation, thought quick to keep her on the porch for a little while longer.

"Miss-"

"Abigail" The woman cut off his words before he could finish, and she had stopped just inside the door with her back still facing Dean. "My name is Abigail. Not 'Miss" anything."

Dean cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure after her sudden statement. But at least he knew her name now. "Abigail, it's obvious that you don't seem too keen on talking about this." The woman was barely able to contain an eye roll as she turned back around to look him in the eye. "But if there is anything you can tell me about finding this thing, then it would be really helpful."

They stood there staring at each other for what felt like minutes to Dean before the woman finally let out a long breath, her eyes lifting to the sky as if to say she couldn't believe she was even still talking to the man. Her eyes shifted to the woods once more, and as if she had seen a ghost, she quickly moved from her slightly slouched position against the door frame to stand ramrod straight just inside the house. Because of the light streaming out from behind her, Dean could no longer make out the features of her face, but he could tell that she had turned her focus back on him.

"You wanna know somethin' 'bout what's out in them woods?" she questioned, but she gave Dean no time to answer. "You've been in town for two days, you and your partner, talkin' 'bout findin' what's in them woods. What's in those woods doesn't like bein' hunted, and you've announced to the whole town that that's why you're here. You wanna know somethin' that would help 'ya?"

Dean was slightly taken back by the cold, yet somewhat desperate note her voice had taken. She stepped up to the edge of the porch, and he could clearly see the fear that managed to break through the hard, uncaring mask she had erected around her.

"Run. Get outta town 'fore he comes out of the woods again. 'Cuz that kid that went missin' in town? That's just the start. You gave 'im a reason to come outta the woods, and that was just a warnin'. He'll be comin' after you next."

"Is that a threat?" Was Dean's only response to her words, but all he received from her in response was a short laugh, a shake of her hair, and the shutting of the door in his face.

Dean stood outside the brightly lit house for a good ten minutes, thinking through what the young woman had just told him. He let out a deep breath and rubbed his hand over his face as he turned and began the short walk back to the motel. He was tired, and all he could think about was falling into the crappy motel bed and sleeping for half the day. Sam could go looking for information himself tomorrow for all he cared.

It took Dean less than five minutes to reach the motel. Half asleep, he pulled his key from his jean pocket and moved to unlock the door. At the same moment his key slid into the lock, a loud bang came from inside the room. Dean was instantly alert, and seconds after the bang came a slightly panicked yell from Sam. Dean struggled with getting the key to turn in the lock in his somewhat startled state, however he soon realized that no matter how hard he twisted and shoved, the lock absolutely refused to budge.

Another panicked noise came from inside followed by the sound of a lamp shattering. Dean fought with the door, calling out Sam's name as another loud bang came from the room. With a startled gasp Dean realized that despite the fact that he had finally managed to successfully unlock the door, the door itself refused to budge. It was almost as if something was pressed up against the door from the inside, forcing it stay shut. Dean finally gave up his quest of trying to open the door and began ramming the thin door with his shoulder as another bang and startled yell came from the other side of the door.

An unnatural wave of panic clawed at him as he continued to ram the unbudging door. The Winchester brothers had been through a lot, beginning from the moment their father had begun to hunt down the demon that had murdered their mother. They had seen things that would make any normal man wet their pants in fear. Demons, vampires, shapeshifters, other mythical creatures—it took a lot to freak either one of them out. He knew that Sam wouldn't be desperately yelling for his help for nothing.

"Sammy!"

* * *

AN: I have not forgotten about this story! I'm in the last few weeks of my first semester of college and I have had essays and papers and exams and lectures and all those other wonderful college things to finish up. I will hopefully have chapter 3 out in the next couple of weeks but, since I have a research paper due that worth half my grade, I'm not sure exactly when the next update will be. My last day of classes is December 11th and I wont start classes again until 2014 so hopefully I can finish, or at least get a majority of this story done.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed, if you haven't then..ya know...ya should totally do that...like now...not that I'm trying to be pushy or anything...just...yeah...thanks...bye :)

-OhNoImAYoungAdult


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